I understand why they don't follow them, but why do they have police on motorcycles at all? I see police bikes at dealers around me with less than 5k miles on them and I've only seen like one or two on the road. Just seems to me they'd be good for doing parades, escorts, etc, but for normal duty I don't see any advantages.

 

I got to talking to a Tampa motor cop one day at the local Harley dealer. He said Harley was his least favorite ride because of the heat and the brakes. He had a BMW previously but thought it was too high and top heavy for slow around town work. He thought the Kawi was hands down the best LE bike if equiped with ABS

 

Jersey City runs all HD's. Mine was in service from 89 to 05. Now it's go a second lease on life.

 

More than likely he was riding an 1100 or 1150 RT - and yes, they're definitely heavier and more top heavy than the current generation (1200) boxers.

 

Why would anyone care about top speed? Well CHP for one, yes pursuits are usually prohibited on bikes but the policy in most area's (we're talking CA) state the same for unmarked units as well. the policy's say to turnover the pursuit ASAP when a marked unit is there. It makes no sense to have a blanket no pursuit policy, everyone would run and get away. Plus top speed is not just used in pursuits, its used other times more often and more effectively. Top speed argument holds a lot of water for a municipal dept. but out on I 5, traffic is already at 70-80 mph. Sometimes 90+. So if you are stopped on the shoulder working radar and you can only go 85 or 90 to catch up? You won't catch up. What I was refering to is standard that CHP sets for there motor's, not the policy in which they ride, as well as the reason why they ride beamers at the moment. I agree with all the points you make other that top speed. I wasn't trying to start a debate just talking about how bad HD wants the contract and what they did to win the contract recentley. I am pulling for them trust me. The money aregument is big also, if you are an administrator.